Monkeypox Cases Dropping, But Racial Disparities Growing

(CTN News) _ The White House said on September 7 it is optimistic about a decline in monkeypox cases and an increase in vaccinations against the infectious virus, despite worsening racial disparities.

Demetre Daskalakis, deputy coordinator of the White House national monkeypox response, said more than 460,000 vaccination doses have already been administered.

There appears to be no end in sight to the virus’ spread.

“Our goal is to control the outbreak in the US,” Daskalakis said. Getting shots into arms is progressing well.

Now that supply is less of a concern, we must focus on maintaining demand.”

As of Wednesday, 21,274 cases had been reported in the U.S., with 98% of cases involving men and 93% involving men who reported recent sexual contact with other men.

Men who have had multiple male partners should be vaccinated against the disease.

Symptoms include skin-to-skin contact, prolonged respiratory droplet exposure, rash, fever, body aches, and chills.

After a record high of 870 cases on Aug. 22, the number of infections has slowed. But the decline has revealed deepening racial divides.

More than a quarter of monkeypox cases reported by Black people were reported in the early weeks.

Approximately a third of infections are caused by Latinos.

Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, says this means public health messages and vaccines aren’t reaching those communities.

That tells you that your interventions need to be recalibrated. “They aren’t as effective as they should be.” Adalja said.

Only 2,000 doses were available in the US when the outbreak was first identified in May, despite the strategic national stockpile having a million doses.

Shipping and regulatory delays caused the remaining supply to be delayed outside major cities for hours.

There has been a recent decline in cases, White House officials said on September 7.

Among the examples Daskalakis cited was the Biden administration’s work with organizations with ties to the LGBTQ community.

“These events demonstrate our strategy is working.” Daskalakis said. “Thousands of people are protected against monkeypox.”

Spencer Jenkins, 33, from Louisville, Kentucky, isn’t so sure.

The vaccine-seeking Jenkins spent weeks this summer waiting on long waitlists in cities hours away, including Washington and Chicago.

Early last month, his doctor in Louisville was one of the few providers in the city to receive doses of the shot.

“You’d think they’d want to give vaccines to everybody because it’s preventive,” he said. “Everything fell on queer people trying to get the vaccine.”

What does monkeypox do to humans?

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